Bihar is still so far...

Jeff and I are starting this blog to share our life in India with our friends and family. Hopefully, it will be mostly amusing anecdotes and cute pictures. There will probably be some tougher days that we will want to share with you in a carefully filtered and edited way so that you don't worry. But really we just want to represent as accurately as we can what we're up to.

A quick rundown of the next few weeks:

Jeff and I are heading to Chennai, a coastal city in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, for the Research Associate training. We're getting there a few days early to settle in. Then, I'll fly to Patna and Jeff will probably go to Delhi (plans are TBD and depend on his projects).

In another entry, we'll give you more details on our projects (and more info as the projects themselves develop). We'll also give you some cool historical info on Patna and Bihar (the state that Patna's in), since they have some rich history.

But for now, let's begin with a recap of the past three weeks:

• Jeff proposed (and I naturally dove into wedding planning)
• We hosted a friend for a week, Jeff's family the next week (with sightseeing), and my mom the following week (with packing)
• I went to Swarthmore overnight for wedding stuff
• We shipped our car and most of our stuff to CA, and crammed four suitcases and an assortment of bags full of stuff for India
• Jeff worked full time, except when his family was in town.
• Jeff and I were each sick for a week.

So it's been a crazy time. I'd made all kinds of ambitious plans (studying Hindi 2 hours a day, going to the gym every morning, etc.). Instead, we miraculously managed to get to where we are right now: in Boston Logan International Airport, waiting for our first flight.

This is additionally miraculous because of the news we received this afternoon: that our flight to Heathrow had been cancelled. After many hours of talking to folks and waiting (and some truly spectacular service agents at Virgin Atlantic and Air France), this is our new itinerary:

• Leave Boston at 10:55pm on June 20
• Arrive Paris 11:35am on June 21
• Leave Paris 1:25pm
• Arrive London 1:45pm
• Leave London 9:25pm
• Arrive Mumbai 11am on June 22
• Leave Mumbai 3:20pm
• Arrive Chennai 5:05pm
• Collapse.

Probably a dozen times today though, Jeff and I have turned to each other and remarked on how glad we are that we're doing this year together. Even though this hasn't been the simplest of days, we've managed to have a great deal of fun - from things like our Sbarro receipt that had printed on the bottom, "Thank you very much! Please exercise regularly!" Of course, navigating flight changes will be laughable compared to the challenges awaiting us in India, but it's nice to know that we'll have a good time together no matter what happens.

More to come soon, when we're happily ensconced in the dorms at IFMR in Chennai...